Lotto-Belisol and Maxime Monfort have signed a two-year agreement. From the January 1, 2014, the 30-year-old rider will join the ranks of Lotto-Belisol. Monfort is a good time trialist and GC rider. This season he finished fourth in the Tour Mediterranéen and 14th in the Tour de France. For the first time in eight years Monfort, who is now part of RadioShack-Leopard, will ride in a Belgian team again.

Manager Marc Sergeant explained the rationale behind signing Montfort: “Maxime is a rider who perfectly fits in the team. He’s a Belgian with a lot of experience, gained in different foreign teams and he’s keen on riding again for a Belgian squad. He’s a rider for stage races who can render us a service with his climbing capacities and good time trial in both big and small stage races. Next to Jürgen Van den Broeck and because of the development of Bart De Clercq, which I love to see happening, we take a step forward as a team in that area and we can appear at the start each time with top ten ambitions, where before that wasn’t evident. Monfort also brings much experience from foreign teams and definitely wants to share this with our other riders.”

For his part, Montfort said that the chance to ride Grand Tours such as the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España played a significant role in his decision.

“The very first contacts with Lotto-Belisol immediately felt right,” Montfort said. “The fact that it’s a Belgian team has also played a role in my decision. It’s special for me after I have been riding in foreign teams for several years. On the sportive level I get great opportunities here. The complete programme is yet to be discussed, but I’ll be a protected rider in short stage races and Grand Tours like the Giro or the Vuelta. In the Tour I’m prepared to work for Jürgen Van den Broeck who has already proven to have chances for a podium place. Apart from that I also want to pass my experience, acquired by being a pro for ten years now, to the young riders in the team.”

“I already know many people in the staff and of course of the riders, among other from the Belgian national team. With some riders, like André Greipel, Adam Hansen and Marcel Sieberg, I rode together at HTC and Columbia. The list is long. Of course I also know Tony Gallopin very well, with whom I’m riding in the same team now, and who’ll also make the move. It’s a new team, with new challenges, but the change will definitely go smoothly.”